Provincial Financial Inclusion in Turkey: Measurement and Its Spatial Determinants

Authors : İbrahim BOZKURT, Rıfat KARAKUŞ

Pages : 101-124

Doi:10.21121/eab.729532

View : 18 | Download : 8

Publication Date : 2020-04-30

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :This present study explores the drivers affecting the provincial financial inclusion levels by using data belonging to 81 Turkish provinces during 2011 – 2016. After computing the index of financial inclusion for each province, we used spatial regression methods which control for spatial dependences because Moran’s I statistic and Local Indicator of Spatial Association (LISA) analysis revealed that there are the spatial spillover and heterogeneity in provincial financial inclusion. To cope with the possible endogeneity problems, we estimated the spatial models via System GMM estimator. The findings show that “unemployment”, “urban”, “tourism”, “married”, “education”, “inflation” and “crime” variables are the determinants of provincial financial inclusion for Turkey. We also detect a convergence in financial inclusion levels of provinces.
Keywords : Financial inclusion, financial inclusion index, spatial econometrics, System GMM, convergence of financial inclusion, financial inclusion, financial inclusion index